s3p5r

House spirits have a special place in my heart, but I don't see them used in stories much. I just read a very low quality scan online, and now I'll be buying a copy, it's great. Thanks for posting it!

Mediterranean genes are fun like that

Ah you're right, I missed the "impacted employees will receive" line. Tired skimming fails again.

And they just included them all in the 'to' instead of bcc. Very professional.

That chirping, scooting and flapping is bafflingly expensive for furby-level engagement too. This video on their official YouTube account speaks better to that evaluation than I think it intends. Video description: A man is busy working and doing chores while mostly ignoring his Lovot. (Currently working invidious link)

1024 GPU cores, 32 Tensor cores and 8 CPU cores (from their product description) to power that. Resources well spent. ~/s~

Image description: A smiling child holds a brown-faced cream-outfitted Lovot in the blurry foreground. In the background a cream-faced brown-outfitted Lovot peers around the corner, watching them from behind. It is unclear whether the Lovot is engaging in voyeurism, jealousy, or some other suspicious act.

Sometimes I browse Japanese news aggregators because trash is interesting to read from a different cultural perspective. This very short article caught my attention, it's in Japanese only but the automatic translation gives you the gist of the absurdity.

家族型AIロボットは令和の「仏壇」か　人の思い受け止める存在「不要なこと言わないのがいい」 - Is a family-type AI robot the "Buddhist altar" of the Reiwa era? It will accept people's thoughts: "It's better not to say unnecessary things"

小坂興道住職（48）は法話で、人が心を預けられる身近な存在として仏をあげ、「私たちはこれまでも自宅で仏壇に今日あったことを話しかけるなどしてきた」と説明。その上で「生身の人間は思った反応を返してくれなかったり、不要なことを言ったりするが、ロボットはしないのがいい」と指摘した。理事を務めるNPO法人「京都自死・自殺相談センターSotto」の活動を踏まえ、「死にたいという相談に誰もが対応できるわけではないが、ロボットは何を言っても受け止められる」と語りかけた。

In his sermon, the head priest Kodo Okimichi (48) spoke of Buddha as a familiar presence that people can entrust their hearts to, explaining, "We've always talked to a Buddhist altar at home about what happened today." Furthermore, "A living human being may not respond in the way you expect, or may say unnecessary things, but a robot shouldn't do that." Referring to the activities of the NPO "Kyoto Suicide Counseling Center Sotto," of which he serves as a director, he said, "Not everyone can respond to consultations about wanting to die, but a robot can accept anything you say."

Extra context: Japan uses emperor reign for years, Reiwa is the current era. The article is clearly an ad for "LOVOT", but the whole religious angle is certainly something. The New LOVOT 3.0 is around US $3850 for the cheapest model and $65 per month minimum subscription cost, at current exchange rates.

Well that settles that then. I'm convinced. ~/s~

A bible interpretation question, but you're "not trying to get religious or anything". How do you imagine that works?

As resources get scarcer the lurch back to fascism is going to get worse. People always turn to the simple (but categorically wrong) answers when times get hard, and blaming people who come from other places has historically been a winner for simple and wrong answers. Refugees are a symptom but they'll be targeted as the cause because their numbers will swell with increasing "natural" disaster frequency and severity.

And I have no idea what I can do about it that wouldn't amount to pissing in the wind.

Sometimes I wonder what future generations will think looking back on the content of today's internet and humanity's total inability to demonstrate the humane.

Totally fucked up and i hope someone in NY with a mobility issue files an ADA complaint with this easy online form

He pleaded guilty to 3 felonies and 6 misdemeanors for not paying $1.4 million over 3 years, including making false deductions and dipping into company funds. That's not "filling out a form wrong", and if it is, his father should pardon everyone who has been charged under the bad laws that allow people simply "filling out a form wrong" to catch 9 charges. Especially for the people who couldn't afford accountants and lawyers to file the form correctly for them.

Pardoning your own son only for any possible federal crime, not just the ones he was charged with, especially after saying you wouldn't, is gross nepotism. And the pardon starts from 2014 when the tax and gun charges are for 2016 onwards, which implies there's more Joe Biden knows about.